Tijs Dragtsma (1992) - Scratched From the Surface

In this surface a woman's face rises out of black water, built entirely from fine scratched light. Scratched From the Surface is a tribute to Drowning Girl, Roy Lichtenstein's painting of a woman sinking beneath stylised comic book waves, her pride holding her under before any hand could reach her. This is an independent and unique work by Tijs Dragtsma, not a copy, a reproduction, a print or an edition of Lichtenstein's painting, and not made, authorised, endorsed or licensed by the artist, his estate or any foundation.

The original gave her a shout dressed as ink, bold lettering claiming she felt nothing. This answer removes the panel and the words, and keeps only what was always underneath, a steady gaze just above the waterline, the single admission the comic strip voice never allowed.

Her hair breaks into points of light, each curl built from a field of fine scratches that catches the eye before the face does. The eyes hold steady under that light, dark and open, while the rest of her dissolves into the water, the old comic line remade as scratched light.

Below, one hand rests on water gone to black glass, its ripples drawn in the same bright line as her hair, so the woman and the surface she is sinking into seem cut from a single gesture. The shoulder, the throat and the water beyond her hand are given back to the dark, a silhouette holding the light in place.

No paint. No print. No ink. The image is formed by controlled scratches worked into the surface of acrylic glass, not applied onto it, a field of individual marks that gathers into hair, skin and water. The work is always present, in full room light as much as under a single raking beam. Light does not create the image here. It sharpens it, deepening the contrast until the hair and the waves read as one continuous current.

Scratched From the Surface belongs to In Tribute, a series within Art with Scratch by Tijs Dragtsma in which imagery is constructed through controlled surface damage rather than pigment or print, and in which that same damage becomes a way of meeting a landmark image again, from another angle, as a bow rather than a copy.

Seen from across a room, she is a single monumental face above dark water. Up close, she is nothing but scratches, patient and small, holding a woman's pride and her silence in the same breath.

"A visual language where damage is not destruction, but structure."

About Art with Scratch

Art with Scratch is a body of work in which the image is not drawn, but released. Carved line by line into a deep black surface, each work emerges through countless precise scratches that catch the light and bring form out of darkness.

From a distance, the image appears almost photographic. Powerful, recognisable and full of presence. Yet up close, the work dissolves into a dense field of individual marks. Fine, fragile and almost weightless. What seemed solid reveals itself as a delicate web of lines, each one a deliberate gesture, each one essential to the whole.

Light does not create the image. It sharpens it. The black surface absorbs, while the scratched lines reflect. As light shifts across the surface, the image breathes. From one angle the figure stands clear and defined. From another it softens and settles back toward the darkness from which it came, without ever disappearing. Under a focused spotlight, the contrast deepens and the image takes on a sculptural, almost luminous quality.

What makes this medium so compelling is its quiet tension. The act of scratching is direct and irreversible. Every line is a decision that cannot be undone. Yet the result is not harsh. It is intimate, atmospheric and alive with movement. Hardness becomes softness. Destruction becomes creation. Absence becomes presence.

In works such as this portrait, the figure is never fully fixed. Through the interplay of line, light and shadow, the image shifts with perspective and atmosphere. At certain moments, the subject seems to step forward out of the black. At others, it settles back into stillness. It is within that movement, between sharpness and calm, that the work comes alive.

Like all materials touched by time, the surface carries its own quiet life. Each scratch holds a moment, a breath, a gesture. Together they form not just an image, but a presence, one that continues to reveal itself with every change of light.

About the Artist

My name is Tijs Dragtsma, founder of TD Fine Art Studio.

As an artist, I am driven by a constant desire to explore new visual languages. I do not see art as a fixed style, but as an evolving field of discovery where material, structure, light and emotion come together.

My work often begins with a simple question. How can a material speak in a new way. How can hardness become intimacy. How can precision create emotion. That search lies at the heart of everything I create.

Within TD Fine Art Studio, each body of work is approached as its own world, with its own logic, atmosphere and visual identity. Some works are built through rhythm, repetition and structure. Others emerge through absence, shadow, reflection or tension. What connects them is a shared commitment to originality, clarity and emotional presence.

I am fascinated by contrast. Between strength and fragility. Between control and feeling. Between what is visible and what is left open to interpretation. My goal is not simply to make an image, but to create a work that holds attention, invites reflection and continues to reveal itself over time.

TD Fine Art Studio is the space in which these explorations come together. It is not only a studio, but an evolving artistic universe shaped by curiosity, precision and the ambition to create work that feels distinctive, intentional and alive.